Semiconductor apparatuses, such as integrated circuits, are constructed from electronic components formed on semiconductor materials and interconnected with circuit wiring. A network of these circuit wirings may connect to memories of a CPU subsystem (CPUSS) and provide the CPUSS memories with power at a particular voltage level.
CPU products may have very high performance requirements including a frequency at which CPU cores run. For example, the frequency requirements of one type of CPU (e.g., gold CPU) may be over 2.5 GHz in a turbo mode, wherein the turbo mode is a high-performance mode requiring a higher operating voltage. In another example, the frequency requirements of another type of CPU (e.g., silver CPU) may typically be around 2 GHz in the turbo mode.
CPUSS memories typically operate at a normal frequency and voltage level when operating in a nominal mode using a voltage provided from a memory core (MX) voltage supply (or VDD_MX). In turbo mode use cases (or other faster operating mode use cases), the CPUSS memories may operate at a highest possible frequency and voltage level for a particular chip, wherein the VDD_MX may be chosen to supply the turbo mode voltage. Notably, the VDD_MX is a voltage rail common to several or all components of an entire chip. Therefore, increasing the voltage provided from the VDD_MX in the turbo mode may unnecessarily impact the power supplied to other chip components while only intending to affect the CPUSS memories.
Accordingly, what is needed is a novel approach for increasing a voltage supplied to the CPUSS memories for a faster operating mode that optimizes power use.